Road rage pair smash taxi driver's windscreen with scaffolding pole after he stopped to pick up passenger

A taxi driver says he's been left traumatised after two men smashed up his cab with a scaffolding pole in an alleged road rage attack on Christmas Day.



Dramatic dashcam footage shows the pair smashing father-of-two Muhammad Raja's windscreen as he tried to get away.



The 27-year-old said the men were angry because he had stopped to pick up a customer in the middle of the road.



The pair allegedly shouted at him and spat at him before they got out and attacked his car in the pouring rain.



Muhammad told the Stoke Sentinel that he feared for his life and his customer suffered cuts from the smashed glass.



He has released the footage hoping it will help police to identify the suspect.



Muhammad said the incident happened in Haven Avenue, Smallthorne, Stoke-on-Trent, at about 9.50pm on Christmas Day.



The men in the car pulled up alongside his cab and shouted at him for the way he was parked in the street, it was claimed.



In the video, the car squeezes past the cab and Muhammad drives forward as the men pull over and get out.



The pair then attack the car - kicking at it and ripped off wing mirrors - and as they walk away the cab drives towards them, with one of the men appearing to jump out of the way.



One of the men then grabs a scaffolding pole from the car's boot and uses it to smash Muhammad's windscreen.



He then drives off with a shattered windscreen.



Muhammad, from Tunstall, said: "The white car drove in front of my taxi, blocked the road and then two people got out of the car. One of them opened the boot of their car and got out a scaffolding pole which was used to smash my front windscreen.



"My wing-mirrors were also kicked off, one of my windscreen wipers was snapped off, and there was a dent in my boot.”



He added: “I feared for my life and the safety of my passenger. I was thinking of my two children and about what would happen to my family if I was no longer here.



"I am still in shock – I never thought someone would do this to me. I suffered no injury but my customer had cuts on his left hand from the smashed glass.



“I can’t sleep properly since the attack, I have been to the doctors for sleeping tablets and I have been for counselling. I just feel so angry and helpless.



"I hope people will watch the footage and contact the police with any information which will help them arrest these men.”



The dashcam footage was handed to police on December 27.



Muhammad said police told him the car is registered in Manchester and insured to an address in Stoke, but they haven't been able to locate the men.



Staffordshire Police confirmed no-one has been arrested.



A police spokesman said: "At 9.50pm on Christmas Day, a taxi was parked on a bend in Haven Avenue when a car pulled up alongside and one of the occupants began shouting at the taxi driver and spat at him.



"Two men then got out of the second car and smashed the taxi's front and rear windscreens, wing mirrors and nearside headlight with what was described as bats.



"The taxi driver managed to drive away and reported the incident at Burslem police station. The vehicle involved in the attack is a white estate car with its back windows blacked out."